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Relationships in Supernatural
May. 31st, 2014 02:19 pmSam is the chick in the relationship.
It recently occurred to me that Sam plays the part of the woman in his relationship with Dean.
1. He's expected to put Dean first instead of focusing on his own needs, and is called selfish on the rare occasions he's tried to do anything he likes.
2. He's supposed to do everything Dean wants whenever Dean wants, live his life solely on Dean's turns and pump up Dean's ego.
3. He's supposed to apologize endlessly for things that happened years ago that he's apologized for repeatedly and done his best to atone for while Dean won't apologize for anything he's done.
4. He's supposed to take Dean's abuse cheerfully, and support Dean without question, but god forbid he isn't 100% supportive or makes a crack about Dean.
5. Dean's pain is automatically seen as worse and more important than any suffering Sam has gone through.
6. Sam is economically dependent on Dean. When Sam tried to get an education so he could support himself he was called a betrayer and accused of abandoning Dean.
In short, Sam is the chick.
It recently occurred to me that Sam plays the part of the woman in his relationship with Dean.
1. He's expected to put Dean first instead of focusing on his own needs, and is called selfish on the rare occasions he's tried to do anything he likes.
2. He's supposed to do everything Dean wants whenever Dean wants, live his life solely on Dean's turns and pump up Dean's ego.
3. He's supposed to apologize endlessly for things that happened years ago that he's apologized for repeatedly and done his best to atone for while Dean won't apologize for anything he's done.
4. He's supposed to take Dean's abuse cheerfully, and support Dean without question, but god forbid he isn't 100% supportive or makes a crack about Dean.
5. Dean's pain is automatically seen as worse and more important than any suffering Sam has gone through.
6. Sam is economically dependent on Dean. When Sam tried to get an education so he could support himself he was called a betrayer and accused of abandoning Dean.
In short, Sam is the chick.
An Open Letter to Jensen Ackles
Jan. 22nd, 2014 01:20 amDear Jensen;
You are on a genre show on a netlet. You will never win an Emmy for your performance no matter how many times you furrow your brow, and growl your tortured emo manpain in your idiotic batman voice, so lighten up willya. You're really bringing the show down.
You are on a genre show on a netlet. You will never win an Emmy for your performance no matter how many times you furrow your brow, and growl your tortured emo manpain in your idiotic batman voice, so lighten up willya. You're really bringing the show down.
How To Write Fanfiction In 12 Easy Steps
Nov. 17th, 2013 03:03 pm1. Always use clichés. Fanfic readers prefer their fiction to be comfortable and familiar. Coming up with innovative plots twists and new interpretations of the characters only confuses them.
2. Don’t watch too many episode of the actual show. Base your fanfic on other fanfics, not the show. Remember, if you’ve actually seen the show, you might come up with a fresh twist, or realistic characterizations. This would not help you achieve that derivative feel a bad fanfic writer strives for.
3. Don’t forget your best friend - Mary Sue. What could be more entertaining than having a ridiculously idealized version of the author taking center stage and elbowing everyone else out of the way. Geez, you’d think readers actually want to read about their favorite characters instead of you. Don’t listen to the critics, it’s YOUR story, make it all about YOU.
4. Exposition! If you want to advance the plot, don’t bother wasting time with character development, interior dialogue, or actually writing those pesky action scenes. Just have someone show up out of the blue and explain everything in detail. Don’t bother to create an actual character or anything. All Ms. or Mr. Exposition needs to do is pop in, say their piece and get out.
5. Ah Romance! Everyone knows that if a show has one male and one female character they should get together and live happily ever after. Forget mundane realities such as compatibility and sexual chemistry. Ignore obstacles such as the chain of command. And, if you lack any experience of your own to guide you, just have the characters act like they’re in a Harlequin novel. So what if it’s Sci-Fi actioner featuring hard-ass military personnel trying to save the galaxy, nothing is more important than their love, damnit!
6. Plotting, who needs it. Structuring a story so that it has a beginning, middle and end is just so old fashioned. Don't worry about resolving the main conflict or wrapping up any loose ends. Start to write, keep going until you get bored, then quit.
7. Series! If one story is good, than 25 are better. You don’t have to go to the trouble of thinking up a new plot for each installment. Simply change the location and the minor character’s names and have them repeat the action over and over and over again. This saves both time and effort and doesn't strain the readers' imagination.
8. Songfic! What could be more plausible than to have a 45 year old character listen to the latest crappy song from some flavor of the month boyband and muse on how it really captures the essence of his romantic situation. Sure he’s your father’s age, but that’s no reason to assume he doesn’t have the same taste in music as a 14 year old girl. Remember, song lyrics are a fine substitute for dialogue, action and/or plot.
9. Crossover! Feel free to combine your two favorite shows. It doesn’t matter if they inhabit two mutually exclusive genres (i.e. Sci-Fi/Soap Opera), or that the shows take place during different historical eras. I can't think of any reason why 'Dawson's Creek' and 'Star Trek Voyager' wouldn't be a perfect mix. So go ahead, do that 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' - 'Bugs Bunny' crossover, and don’t make it a parody!
10. Style is Everything. Be creative. Spell the character’s names differently every time, get your physical descriptions wrong (i.e. Buffy a brunette, Spike a redhead). Start the story in the present tense, then switch, without explanation, to an extended flashback. Typos, grammatical errors and run-on sentences are perfectly ok. Or, my personal favorite, never use anyone’s name during dialogue, so that it’s virtually impossible to figure out who said what. After all, you’re not getting paid for this! Readers shouldn’t expect clarity and consistency from you.
11. High School Rules! If you're writing about a show set in an extremely interesting universe, such as a space ship, or is about contemporary people in an extremely interesting setting, such as monster hunters (both human and supernatural), churn out endless stories about your heroes in a modern American high school. No, I don't mean flashbacks to the actual character's high school experience to learn more about them. That might be interesting and would require some research to eliminate anachronisms. (e.g. before the 21st century, cell phones, Facebook and Twitter didn't exist, and the internet was in its infancy.) Just plunk the entire cast into school with no explanation, and for the love of Mike, don't have them do anything interesting. Instead, have them go through a mundane day. It doesn't matter if the cast members are a variety of ages, or came from different parts of the country - just have them all in the same class for some reason.
11.a. This also applies to "Coffee Shop" fics.
12. Rule Britania! If you're from Great Britain, and you want to write about American characters, don't bother to get an American beta reader to go over the story to remove the britishisms. It doesn't take the reader out of the story at all when Sam and Dean Winchester "laugh like drains", or Bobby Singer says "whilst". This also applies to words such as "lift", "Boot and Bonnet" when referring to a car's trunk and hood, or calling a sweater a "jumper".
2. Don’t watch too many episode of the actual show. Base your fanfic on other fanfics, not the show. Remember, if you’ve actually seen the show, you might come up with a fresh twist, or realistic characterizations. This would not help you achieve that derivative feel a bad fanfic writer strives for.
3. Don’t forget your best friend - Mary Sue. What could be more entertaining than having a ridiculously idealized version of the author taking center stage and elbowing everyone else out of the way. Geez, you’d think readers actually want to read about their favorite characters instead of you. Don’t listen to the critics, it’s YOUR story, make it all about YOU.
4. Exposition! If you want to advance the plot, don’t bother wasting time with character development, interior dialogue, or actually writing those pesky action scenes. Just have someone show up out of the blue and explain everything in detail. Don’t bother to create an actual character or anything. All Ms. or Mr. Exposition needs to do is pop in, say their piece and get out.
5. Ah Romance! Everyone knows that if a show has one male and one female character they should get together and live happily ever after. Forget mundane realities such as compatibility and sexual chemistry. Ignore obstacles such as the chain of command. And, if you lack any experience of your own to guide you, just have the characters act like they’re in a Harlequin novel. So what if it’s Sci-Fi actioner featuring hard-ass military personnel trying to save the galaxy, nothing is more important than their love, damnit!
6. Plotting, who needs it. Structuring a story so that it has a beginning, middle and end is just so old fashioned. Don't worry about resolving the main conflict or wrapping up any loose ends. Start to write, keep going until you get bored, then quit.
7. Series! If one story is good, than 25 are better. You don’t have to go to the trouble of thinking up a new plot for each installment. Simply change the location and the minor character’s names and have them repeat the action over and over and over again. This saves both time and effort and doesn't strain the readers' imagination.
8. Songfic! What could be more plausible than to have a 45 year old character listen to the latest crappy song from some flavor of the month boyband and muse on how it really captures the essence of his romantic situation. Sure he’s your father’s age, but that’s no reason to assume he doesn’t have the same taste in music as a 14 year old girl. Remember, song lyrics are a fine substitute for dialogue, action and/or plot.
9. Crossover! Feel free to combine your two favorite shows. It doesn’t matter if they inhabit two mutually exclusive genres (i.e. Sci-Fi/Soap Opera), or that the shows take place during different historical eras. I can't think of any reason why 'Dawson's Creek' and 'Star Trek Voyager' wouldn't be a perfect mix. So go ahead, do that 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' - 'Bugs Bunny' crossover, and don’t make it a parody!
10. Style is Everything. Be creative. Spell the character’s names differently every time, get your physical descriptions wrong (i.e. Buffy a brunette, Spike a redhead). Start the story in the present tense, then switch, without explanation, to an extended flashback. Typos, grammatical errors and run-on sentences are perfectly ok. Or, my personal favorite, never use anyone’s name during dialogue, so that it’s virtually impossible to figure out who said what. After all, you’re not getting paid for this! Readers shouldn’t expect clarity and consistency from you.
11. High School Rules! If you're writing about a show set in an extremely interesting universe, such as a space ship, or is about contemporary people in an extremely interesting setting, such as monster hunters (both human and supernatural), churn out endless stories about your heroes in a modern American high school. No, I don't mean flashbacks to the actual character's high school experience to learn more about them. That might be interesting and would require some research to eliminate anachronisms. (e.g. before the 21st century, cell phones, Facebook and Twitter didn't exist, and the internet was in its infancy.) Just plunk the entire cast into school with no explanation, and for the love of Mike, don't have them do anything interesting. Instead, have them go through a mundane day. It doesn't matter if the cast members are a variety of ages, or came from different parts of the country - just have them all in the same class for some reason.
11.a. This also applies to "Coffee Shop" fics.
12. Rule Britania! If you're from Great Britain, and you want to write about American characters, don't bother to get an American beta reader to go over the story to remove the britishisms. It doesn't take the reader out of the story at all when Sam and Dean Winchester "laugh like drains", or Bobby Singer says "whilst". This also applies to words such as "lift", "Boot and Bonnet" when referring to a car's trunk and hood, or calling a sweater a "jumper".
Don't call me a Baby Boomer!
Oct. 5th, 2013 04:14 pmI was born at the tail end of the demographic known as the baby boom, but I sure the hell am NOT a baby boomer!
I've spent my entire life being lumped in with the Woodstock generation, and it's ridiculous. I have absolutely nothing in common with them. You simply can't compare people born in the mid to late forties or early 50's with someone born in the 60's.
While they were protesting the war, I was learning my ABC's. When they were dancing in the rain at Woodstock, I was getting ready for grade school. They had boom times and 3% unemployment, I had non-stop recessions, double-digit unemployment and 15% inflation. They had secure jobs with pensions. I've been dealing with shrinking opportunities my entire adult life.
Every anniversary of the Kennedy assassination and the arrival of the Beatles I get to hear how these were seminal events for me because I'm a boomer. I was a toddler at the time of both! No, they weren't 'seminal events' in my life. The Beatles were just some band that broke up before I was in the 5th grade.
Guess what, if you're in your late forties/early fifties you're screwed. The chance of my getting what I've paid into SS and Medicare for over 30 years are slim. I'm really sick and tired of being told that I'm a greedy boomer who's going to retire and live for decades off of SS, and that I'm to blame for every problem the country has. I have a lot more in common with the Gen X-ers than the boomers, but according to all media/pundits/etc. I'm one of the privileged boomers.
It's ludicrous that I'm supposedly the same generation as people biologically old enough to be my parents.
I've spent my entire life being lumped in with the Woodstock generation, and it's ridiculous. I have absolutely nothing in common with them. You simply can't compare people born in the mid to late forties or early 50's with someone born in the 60's.
While they were protesting the war, I was learning my ABC's. When they were dancing in the rain at Woodstock, I was getting ready for grade school. They had boom times and 3% unemployment, I had non-stop recessions, double-digit unemployment and 15% inflation. They had secure jobs with pensions. I've been dealing with shrinking opportunities my entire adult life.
Every anniversary of the Kennedy assassination and the arrival of the Beatles I get to hear how these were seminal events for me because I'm a boomer. I was a toddler at the time of both! No, they weren't 'seminal events' in my life. The Beatles were just some band that broke up before I was in the 5th grade.
Guess what, if you're in your late forties/early fifties you're screwed. The chance of my getting what I've paid into SS and Medicare for over 30 years are slim. I'm really sick and tired of being told that I'm a greedy boomer who's going to retire and live for decades off of SS, and that I'm to blame for every problem the country has. I have a lot more in common with the Gen X-ers than the boomers, but according to all media/pundits/etc. I'm one of the privileged boomers.
It's ludicrous that I'm supposedly the same generation as people biologically old enough to be my parents.
Corporate America
Sep. 15th, 2013 12:16 amSo I'm reading an article at askamanager, where the LW was whining that a brand new employee quit after 5 days to take a higher paying position, and should she trash the employee to the references.
The advice columnist agreed that the employee was terribly unprofessional, disloyal and generally committed high treason and deserved be punished.
Bullhockey!
Corporate America reserves the right to shitcan anyone at anytime for any or no reason. They don't show loyality to the employees, so why the hell should anyone show loyalty to them?
My advice to the LW is simple. Suck it up princess! Maybe if your employer weren't such cheapskates they'd keep people. BTW, complaining to the references is mean, petty and unprofessional.
Good luck 5 day employee!
The advice columnist agreed that the employee was terribly unprofessional, disloyal and generally committed high treason and deserved be punished.
Bullhockey!
Corporate America reserves the right to shitcan anyone at anytime for any or no reason. They don't show loyality to the employees, so why the hell should anyone show loyalty to them?
My advice to the LW is simple. Suck it up princess! Maybe if your employer weren't such cheapskates they'd keep people. BTW, complaining to the references is mean, petty and unprofessional.
Good luck 5 day employee!
Supernatural S9
Jul. 14th, 2013 02:26 pmSo all the crazed Dean fans are whining because the spoilers for S9 dare to mention Sam and Cas. HAHAHAHAH!
One thing I have to give Jeremy Carver kudos for, is that he finally ended The Dean Winchester Adventure Hour, and actually gave Padalecki some screen time and a story line.
I think it's funny that the crazed Dean fans, (CDFs), are still bitching about the last minute substitution of Jake Abel for Jensen in the Michael's vessel storyline. Let it go, it's been over three years.
Plus, if you're still wondering why they abruptly dropped Jensen as Michael, and literally brought Adam back from the dead to fill the role, it's obviously because Jensen's 'acting talent' is limited.
He's exactly the same in every role I've seen him in, from Days of Our Lives, Smallville, Dawson's Creek, Dark Angel, My Bloody Valentine, etc. He simply can't pull off a dual role, unlike his vastly more talented co-star.
One thing I have to give Jeremy Carver kudos for, is that he finally ended The Dean Winchester Adventure Hour, and actually gave Padalecki some screen time and a story line.
I think it's funny that the crazed Dean fans, (CDFs), are still bitching about the last minute substitution of Jake Abel for Jensen in the Michael's vessel storyline. Let it go, it's been over three years.
Plus, if you're still wondering why they abruptly dropped Jensen as Michael, and literally brought Adam back from the dead to fill the role, it's obviously because Jensen's 'acting talent' is limited.
He's exactly the same in every role I've seen him in, from Days of Our Lives, Smallville, Dawson's Creek, Dark Angel, My Bloody Valentine, etc. He simply can't pull off a dual role, unlike his vastly more talented co-star.
(no subject)
Jun. 17th, 2013 07:15 pmUnpopular TV opinions:
Shemar Moore of Criminal Minds is a perfectly cromulent actor. I don't get the hate. At least he's not just a collection of tics and quirks like a co-star of his I could name.
Jensen Ackles of Supernatural is occasionally okay, usually average, and often really, really soap-opera-ish. I don't see much a career for him once the show's canceled and his looks fade. Jared Padalecki is a much better actor. My money is on JP to have a real career after the show ends.
Neither Gillian Anderson or David Duchovny of the X-Files could act. I watched the show for Nick Lea and Mitch Pellegi.
Matt Smith is a lousy doctor. Not as bad as Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy, but not much better.
Shemar Moore of Criminal Minds is a perfectly cromulent actor. I don't get the hate. At least he's not just a collection of tics and quirks like a co-star of his I could name.
Jensen Ackles of Supernatural is occasionally okay, usually average, and often really, really soap-opera-ish. I don't see much a career for him once the show's canceled and his looks fade. Jared Padalecki is a much better actor. My money is on JP to have a real career after the show ends.
Neither Gillian Anderson or David Duchovny of the X-Files could act. I watched the show for Nick Lea and Mitch Pellegi.
Matt Smith is a lousy doctor. Not as bad as Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy, but not much better.
